Rainbow Six Scavenger Hunt Promotes Tropic Thunder

Here's an interesting new way to cross promote. Apparently there's been a scavenger hunt injected into Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 since July 18th that urges players to seek out clues in the campaign regarding Paramount Picture's upcoming comedy Tropic Thunder, starring Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Ben Stiller. Players who reach the end of the scavenger hunt will receive an invitation to join Ubisoft's VIP Club, a chance to download a free VIP map, and will be entered into a prize drawing for an Xbox 360 Elite system, complete with a one-year Live subscription and a collection of Ubisoft games.

"This is a new and highly innovative use of dynamic in-game advertising and really demonstrates the creativity and marketing power of this medium," said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive.

He took the words right out of my mouth. Hit the jump for details on the hunt, which runs through August 25th.

NEW YORK -- Aug. 5, 2008 -- Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. and a leading network for video game advertising, Paramount Pictures and Ubisoft Entertainment have teamed up to create a first-of-its-kind dynamic in-game advertising promotion. To promote the upcoming film "Tropic Thunder," the companies have placed an interactive scavenger hunt in "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2," published by Ubisoft, which encourages gamers to actively interact with the dynamic in-game campaign, take action from the clues, and get rewarded at the final stage of the hunt.

"This innovative scavenger hunt enables us to reward our target audience and give them a direct call to action to go see 'Tropic Thunder,'" said Amy Powell, senior vice president of Interactive Marketing for Paramount Pictures. "We've had a track record of success working with Massive since the business started. This is taking our in-game advertising campaigns to the next level by making them interactive and actionable. Gamers are motivated to seek out the next ad, which is an amazing way for us to build awareness and excitement for our new release."

Gamers see a series of nine branded "clues" within "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2," each leading them to the next clue, until they successfully reach the end of the scavenger hunt. Everyone who completes the scavenger hunt will receive an invitation to join Ubisoft's VIP club and the chance to download a free digital VIP map for "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2," and will be entered into two prize drawings. In the first drawing held July 31, 25 winners received a "Tropic Thunder" Gift Pack: two tickets to "Tropic Thunder" and a "Tropic Thunder" T-shirt and hat.* The second drawing, on Aug. 22, will award one grand prize winner an Xbox 360 Elite system as well as a one-year Xbox LIVE subscription and a collection of Ubisoft's upcoming video game releases.**

"This is a new and highly innovative use of dynamic in-game advertising and really demonstrates the creativity and marketing power of this medium," said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive.

The scavenger hunt began on July 18 and will run through Aug. 25 to drive awareness leading up to the movie opening on Aug. 13.